DEALS

Barnacles sports bar in Brandon to close

Barnacles in Brandon was the place for hard-core basketball fans as the tournament for March Madness began and was televised on hundred’s of tv’s in the sports bar, as seen in this 2004 photo. STAFF/CLIFF MCBRIDE

The walls of huge HDTVs will soon go dark at the Barnacles in Brandon.

The sports bar that boasted acres of TVs showing nearly every sporting event on the globe will have its last day on Thursday.

“We’re not planning anything crazy or formal for closing day,” said General Manager Rodney Martin. “We’re just telling regulars — and some have been coming here 13 years — to come on in and have a last drink with us.”

Opened 15 years ago, the bar at 926 Providence Rd. has long been a big gathering spot, and was one of the area’s largest sports bars, even as a slew of other sports bars have opened in the area that offer gourmet food and wide craft beer lineups. That includes places like Buffalo Wild Wings and the renovated Outpost in downtown Tampa, plus the Brick House Tavern & Tap and several all-female serving staff bars such as the Tilted Kilt and Wing House.

Just this May, more competition came to Barnacles as the Zapps sports bar opened around the corner from Barnacles in a former nightclub at 2016 Town Center Boulevard.

Though the restaurant had struggled for some time, Martin said it never wanted to go the route of the all-female staff just to lure in more customers. “We have a lot more to offer than cheap panty hose and women with their butt cheeks hanging out of their shorts,” Marin said. “This was a good sports bar and family oriented, with exceptional service, great food — somewhere you could go for a great drink and a fresh hamburger.”

Martin did not have any information on what would go into the site once Barnacles closes.